Ex-WellPoint CEO Braly got a 55% raise in her last year at helm

By Russ Britt

Ex-WellPoint Inc. Chief Executive Angela Braly got a 55% raise in total compensation during 2012, for a grand total of $20.6 million, and she only was at the helm of the health insurance giant for two-thirds of the year.

Braly’s compensation package was boosted mostly by a jump in stock option awards totaling $9.8 million, up from $2 million in 2011.

Braly stepped down as CEO in late August, but was officially kept on as an employee through the end of 2012, the company’s proxy statement said. She ended up receiving an additional $43,076 in annual salary compared with 2011, and a nearly identical amount in stock awards that totaled roughly $8 million.

She also received $1.37 million in non-equity bonuses, though that figure was down $1.86 million the year before and $2.7 million in 2010. And her take-home pay was down in the category of “other compensation,” to $179,618 from $216,279 in 2011 and $591,340 in 2010.

It doesn’t stop there, though. The proxy statement says Braly was terminated without cause, and as severance she gets twice her yearly salary in addition to her target annual incentive, which is 120% of her salary. Using her 2012 salary as the base, that would come to roughly $3.8 million in total. That gets paid out in installments over two years, which is considered her severance period.

There’s more. She also gets a pro-rated retirement bonus, continued health care during the severance period, financial planning services and outplacement counseling. She also has agreed not to seek employment with a rival for 18 months or as long as she holds options.

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